page_title: Galicia (Eastern Europe)
section_title: Origins and variations of the name
hierarchical_section_title: Galicia (Eastern Europe) / Origins and variations of the name
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Mapa Polski za panowania Kazimierza III Wielkiego (1333 - 1370) English: Map of Poland and territorial borders during the reign of Casimir III the Great (1333 - 1370)
context_page_description: Galicia or Halychyna is a historical and geographic region between Central and Eastern Europe. It was once the small Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia and later a crown land of Austria-Hungary, the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, which straddled the modern-day border between Poland and Ukraine. The area, named after the medieval city of Halych, was first mentioned in Hungarian historical chronicles in the year 1206 as Galiciæ. In 1253 Prince Daniel of Galicia was crowned the King of Rus or King of Ruthenia following the Mongol invasion in Ruthenia. In 1352 the Kingdom of Poland annexed the Kingdom of Galicia and Volhynia as the Ruthenian Voivodeship.
  The nucleus of historic Galicia lies within the modern regions of western Ukraine: the Lviv, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts near Halych.
  In the 18th century, territories that later became part of the modern Polish regions of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship and Silesian Voivodeship were added to Galicia. It covers much of such historic regions as Red Ruthenia and Lesser Poland. Galicia became contested ground between Poland and Ruthenia from medieval times, and in the 20th century between Poland and Ukraine.
context_section_description: Andrew II, King of Hungary from 1205 to 1235, claimed the title Rex Galiciae et Lodomeriae ("King of Galicia and Lodomeria") – a Latinised version of the Slavic names Halych and Volodymyr, the major cities of the principality of Halych-Volhynia, which the Hungarians ruled from 1214 to 1221. Halych-Volhynia had cut a swathe as a mighty principality under the rule of Prince Roman the Great (Roman Mstislavich) from 1170 to 1205. After the expulsion of the Hungarians in 1221, Ruthenians took back rule of the area. Roman's son Daniel of Galicia (Prince of Galicia until 1255) was crowned king of Halych-Volhynia in 1253. About 1247 Daniel of Galicia founded Lviv (Leopolis), named in honour of his son Leo I, who later moved the capital northwestwards from Halych to Lviv in 1272.
  The Ukrainian name Halych (Галич) (Halicz in Polish, Галич in Russian, Galic in Latin) comes from the Khwalis or Kaliz who occupied the area from the time of the Magyars. They were also called Khalisioi in Greek, and Khvalis (Хваліс) in Ukrainian. Some historians speculated that the name had to do with a group of people of Thracian origin (i.e. Getae) who during the Iron Age moved into the area after the Roman conquest of Dacia in 106 CE and may have formed the Lypytsia culture with the Venedi people who moved into the region at the end of Le Tène period (La Tène culture). The Lypytsia culture supposedly replaced the existing Thracian Hallstatt (see Thraco-Cimmerian) and Vysotske cultures. Connection with Celtic peoples supposedly explains the relation of the name "Galicia" to many similar place names found across Europe and Asia Minor, such as ancient Gallia or Gaul (modern France, Belgium, and northern Italy), Galatia (in Asia Minor), the Iberian Peninsula's Galicia, and Romanian Galați. Some other scholars assert that the name Halych has Slavic origins – from halytsa, meaning "a naked (unwooded) hill", or from halka which means "jackdaw".
  (The jackdaw featured as a charge in the city's coat of arms
  and later also in the coat of arms of Galicia-Lodomeria.
  The name, however, predates the coat of arms, which may represent canting or simply folk etymology). Although Ruthenians drove out the Hungarians from Halych-Volhynia by 1221, Hungarian kings continued to add Galicia et Lodomeria to their official titles.
  
  In 1349, in the course of the Galicia–Volhynia Wars, King Casimir III the Great of Poland conquered the major part of Galicia and put an end to the independence of this territory. Upon the conquest Casimir adopted the following title: 
  Casimir by the grace of God king of Poland and Rus (Ruthenia), lord and heir of the land of Kraków, Sandomierz, Sieradz, Łęczyca, Kuyavia, Pomerania (Pomerelia). Latin: Kazimirus, Dei gratia rex Polonie et Rusie, nec non-Cracovie, Sandomirie, Siradie, Lancicie, Cuiavie, et Pomeranieque Terrarum et Ducatuum Dominus et Heres.
   Following the death of Casimir in 1370, Poland entered into a personal union with Hungary (1370–1382) and Ruthenia (Galicia) came under the rule of a Ruthenian lord, Vladislaus II of Opole, appointed by the King of Hungary. Later Galicia was ruled for a short time by various Hungarian voivodes of Ruthenia.
  Under the Jagiellonian dynasty (Kings of Poland from 1386 to 1572), the Kingdom of Poland revived and reconstituted its territories. In place of historic Galicia there appeared the Ruthenian Voivodeship.
  In 1526, after the death of Louis II of Hungary, the Habsburgs inherited the Hungarian claims to the titles of the Kingship of Galicia and Lodomeria, together with the Hungarian crown. In 1772 the Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary, used those historical claims to justify her participation in the First Partition of Poland. In fact, the territories acquired by Austria did not correspond exactly to those of former Halych-Volhynia – the Russian Empire took control of Volhynia to the north-east, including the city of Volodymyr-Volynskyi (Włodzimierz Wołyński) – after which Lodomeria was named. On the other hand, much of Lesser Poland – Nowy Sącz and Przemyśl 
caption: Annexation of the Kingdom of Ruthenia by the Kingdom of Poland as part of the Galicia–Volhynia Wars
exif: {}